1. Field of the Disclosed Embodiments
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for monitoring and integrating live flight following information provided as Trusted Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data with stored planned flight information, and for comparatively analyzing the data/information to generate automated alerts to one or more end-users or stakeholders in instances when an aircraft deviates from a planned flight route by a predetermined degree, as specified by adjustable set parameters.
2. Related Art
Many individuals and entities familiar with the vagaries of commercial and business aviation worldwide watched in stunned amazement in March 2014 the news reports regarding the physical “disappearance” of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Still seeking answers regarding that tragedy, the public worldwide was rocked by news regarding the fate of Germanwings Flight 9525 in March 2015 in which the co-pilot allegedly locked the captain out of the cockpit and further allegedly deliberately commanded a descent that caused the aircraft to crash into a mountain killing all onboard.
To many, it seems implausible that real-time movements of commercial airliners and other aircraft for hire are not meticulously tracked along their planned routes of flight. With the occurrence of each incident, commercial news outlets clamor to find industry “experts” that can attempt to explain to the general public the current inability to geo-locate, for example, a site at which a commercial airliner could have “gone down” and/or simply disappeared, or to identify, in a time-critical manner, potentially drastic hazards caused by purposeful deviation from a planned route of flight.
Every time such a highly publicized event, particularly one involving a commercial airliner, occurs, the aviation community, often in response to an outcry from the general public, increases efforts at finding some additional technologic solution by which seamless, precise and timely aircraft flight following worldwide may be more effectively implemented. Discussion is undertaken regarding how to eliminate “dead zones” in extreme areas of open ocean and, for example, near the North and South Pole. In the case of the Germanwings incident, many asked whether there was some manner by which drastic, or even subtle, deviations from planned flight routing may be identified externally, and in a manner that may potentially afford opportunities for rapid response scenarios to be implemented to address the deviations. In this regard, many questions arise regarding an ability to detect deviations in aircraft flight profiles with respect to planned routes of flight in a manner that could alert controlling agencies and/or the entities that own and operate the aircraft as to the deviations from the intended routes of flight in a timely enough manner that some communication with the deviating aircraft is attempted, or some other intervention scheme is effected.
While it is recognized that intentionally initiated actions by “rogue” flight deck crew members may be difficult to interdict, the sooner an indication of such an action may be isolated, the sooner some reactive response may be able to be put in place. It should also be recognized that certain mechanical failures and avionics difficulties may cause a particularly ascertainable deviation of which even alert aircrew may be limitedly aware. In this latter category, consider for example, the incident in October 1999, in which a famous professional golfer died in what was later determined to be some manner of cabin depressurization incident involving the business jet in which he was flying from Florida to Texas. Three minutes after a last communication was received from the aircraft, it made a right turn that was deemed likely to be the result of human input. Three minutes later, however, the aircraft did not respond to radio communication and there was no further communication with the aircraft. Based on position of the aircraft when radio contact was lost, movements of that particular aircraft were able to be continually tracked. Military jets were scrambled and it was only through the observation of the military pilots, observing what may have been frost or condensation on the windshield that evidence of the cause for the deviation was ascertained. The aircraft continued flying until it ran out of fuel and crashed into a field near Mina, S. Dak. Depending on the circumstances surrounding an aircraft route of flight deviation occurrence, it is rare that the detailed information regarding an incident such as this may be so readily available.
Any deviations from flight planned routes in controlled and uncontrolled airspace segments, even when those deviations do not result in catastrophe, can be very disruptive to aircraft operations in a vicinity of the deviating aircraft. Safe separation distances, in three dimensions, become difficult to maintain in a vicinity of even a single aircraft making unpredicted deviations from, or even along, its flight planned route. Based on this, there are certain restrictions and/or active intervention measures that may be imposed/undertaken on directions from, for example, an air traffic control facility to maintain what may be considered acceptable deviations, or deviations within acceptable limits. Timing deviations may be limited, for example, to less than three minutes along a route of flight in which timing/sequencing inputs may be limited to voice reports from the aircraft passing mandatory reporting checkpoints. Deviations in altitude may be even more restrictive to maintain safe separation of aircraft in the local vertical for the aircraft.